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Theodora Restored Icons

Dan Graves, MSL

Imagine a bloody struggle, fought over the course of a hundred years,
about the use of images in worship. It actually happened. Emperors of
Byzantium, having set their minds to control the church and its forms of
worship, used armies to oppose the veneration of icons, smashing many of
the art works in the process. This destruction of icons is called
iconoclasm.

An icon is a stylized representation of God, Christ, or a saint. By
the early middle ages, icons (and other images) were widely used as aids
to devotion--or as objects of worship. Often, the devotees bowed to
these aids and kissed them. To some believers this was shocking. They
argued that the Ten Commandments forbade worshipping images. To them,
icons were no more than idols. The only allowable representation of
Christ was the bread and wine, they said. Scripture and early church
practice were against icons, they insisted. Furthermore, it violated the
church's definition of Christ as both God and man to try to capture the
essence of Christ in any representation. Many iconoclasts also opposed
prayer to saints and veneration of relics.

Byzantine Emperor Leo III saw icons as the chief reason Jews and
Moslems could not be won to Christ and also as a cause of national
disunity. At first he merely tried to persuade his people of this. But
when a violent undersea eruption shook Constantinople, Leo took it as a
warning from God. He ordered his soldiers to tear down a famed picture
of Christ. When some old women pushed the ladder from under the
soldiers, riots commenced. After that, Leo violently persecuted bishops
and monks who favored icons. In 754, he convoked a council to rule
against the images.

Those who defended icons said they weren't images. An image
represents what a thing really is. An icon attempts to convey spiritual
truth. Defenders claimed that the early church did, indeed, use icons.
For instance, tradition said that Luke painted a picture of Mary that is
now in Rome. The famous bishop John Chrysostom found inspiration in a
portrait of Paul. Icons are a true response to the creeds, they argued.
Christ had a real body that could be portrayed.

Emperor Constantine V was even more opposed to icons than Leo. He
renewed the persecution. More blood flowed. But after his death, Empress
Irene worked with the Patriarch of Constantinople to call another
council, the Second Council of Nicaea (787). This one favored icons.
However, the emperors and army remained opposed. Not until this day, February 19, 842, which was the first
Sunday of Lent, were icons restored to the churches in solemn
processions. The Empress Theodora had a strong part in the restoration.
The first Sunday of Lent is still observed as the "Feast of Orthodoxy"
in Eastern churches.

The Protestant reformers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
sympathized with the iconoclasts. God must be worshipped in "spirit and
in truth," they taught. Protestant gangs sometimes smashed images in
churches. The reformers firmly rejected prayer to saints and repudiated
veneration of relics.

Bibliography:

Bellitto, Christopher M. The General Councils : a history of the
twenty-one general councils from Nicaea to Vatican II. New York:
Paulist Press, 2002.

Fortescue, Adrian."Iconoclasm." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.